Winston-Salem Poverty Thought Force Final Report

POVERTY THOUGHT FORCE

POVERTY THOUGHT FORCE FINAL REPORT _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Higher Pay for Pre-K teachers (7 impact; 24 combined). North Carolina teacher pay is ranked 49th in the nation; preschool teachers’ mean annual salary is $25,530. Higher pay for pre-K teachers would attract more applicants and allow current teachers to devote greater time and energy to their students. As a statewide policy recommendation, achieving this would require working with state legislators and executives—in part to help suggest supplemental sources of revenue. Comments: Higher Pay for Pre-K teachers • Higher pay could bring better educators and more incentive. • Not making enough money after paying a lot to get a degree. • Kids learn quicker when they’re younger so it’s important to have good, educated teachers that are excited/dedicated. • More motivation for college education because potential for a teaching job. • Why do we live in a country where educators aren’t seen as having a prestigious job? o Sad they have to spend out of pocket for most supplies—they do it because they’re passionate educators. • ALL teachers deserve higher pay (min. $50,000) because these are the people that educate our children and shape the future. o Why is there such a big difference between kindergarten and college pay? • Education should be the #1 priority in our country. • Elementary teachers are expected to have the same education as those in higher, more advanced grades, yet they still get paid much less. • All teachers should have an equal reward. • Teacher pay should be equalized. • Embarrassing to be 49 th in pay nationally; NC needs to change. • You have too much of a degree to make so little money, eliminating any incentive to want to be a teacher because you won’t have means to support yourself. • Pay should be raised because Pre-K is the first level of education kids will get—this takes a lot of training and patience whereas when kids get older, they are split up to difference levels and teachers are catered to them specifically. • This job is very time consuming and it deserves more funding. • Bottom line, teachers need higher pay. 8. Community Service at Middle/High Schools (10 impact rank; 25 combined rank). Existing ‘Life Skills’ classes could be modified to include community-service projects, coordinated across the school system for maximum impact. Students and neighborhoods alike would benefit from this engagement. Such programs exist in some schools already; local education advocates could work with the Superintendent’s office, as well as individual principals, to coordinate/enhance. 9. Incentivize Employment Tutoring Programs (11 impact; 20 combined). Private and public employers incentivize staff to serve as tutors in local schools, raising awareness and encouraging connections between businesses and schools. The Augustine Literacy Project in Winston-Salem is one promising source of training and support for such tutors. Comments: See #5 recommendation above. General Comments on Education • Principals should not have their children as teachers at their schools. • They took nurses out of the school system. • Teachers arguing with students but they don’t know what is going on at home. • Supplies/uniforms are too expensive. Give free clothing if they want uniforms. • There is a connection between poverty & violence in communities and failing schools. • Our Hispanic community is not fully integrated into the city. Students placed with low-performing black schools and scores went down even more. Language barrier an issue. • Used to be churches on every corner in the black community. • If there were more employment opportunities, then other problems would be ameliorated. • Have to drive to West Side to get basic supplies. • School system tells the community that they are not worthy and shouldn’t take action. 26

POVERTY THOUGHT FORCE FINAL REPORT _________________________________________________________________________________________________ • Children want to be basketball players or rappers because they don’t see employment opportunities in their community. • Mom had to fight principal to hold her daughter back because she couldn’t read. • Good programs in Winston; many inaccessible due to awareness/transportation access. • Is it intentional that those in subsidized housing are told about events day before or day of? Lack of advertising in those neighborhoods (Cleveland Ave.; Boston Thurmond). • Where are the advocates among leaders of the school system? School board for example. • Cannot ignore systematic attempt to overlook some schools. • Parental involvement essential: o o o o Parents working 2-3 jobs can’t come to PTA meetings or other events. Should be mandatory involve a parent in child’s educational path. Send exercise sheet home and allow parents to review with child to spark engagement. Schools should have roles built in for parent volunteering or jobs at the school. Get parents out of home; provides them opportunity to give back. Teachers should always give 100%, but kids need dedicated adult figure at home! Health 1. Subsidize food stamps for healthier foods (3 impact rank; 14 combined rank). Healthy food is generally more expensive than junk food. Enhancing SNAP values for nutritious foods would bring costs into alignment and encourage people to use SNAP to purchase healthy food. Federal and/or state subsidies may be available for such a program. Comments: Subsidize food stamps for healthier foods • Good idea to provide vouchers to purchase healthy foods to supplement (SNAP). • No, do not increase because it will enable young women to lay around and not do anything, it will hinder selfsufficiency. • Require nutrition classes to go along with SNAP application; would expand knowledge of what's going into the body. People will attend because required to get food stamps. • Increase awareness - if we don’t know what’s healthy then how to know what to eat? • Need a system like “Farm Fridge”(Winston initiative) to get fresh vegetables to people. Expands connection from farmers to families. • Healthy food is fresh food. Many buy canned, boxed food. People on food stamps don't know how to cook. Need classes on which ingredients to use. Younger generation like “quick fixes”: cut, washed collard greens. Canned food has potassium/salt and leads to obesity. • Families don't get enough food stamps. It is hard with 5-6 kids and no job. • Senior citizens are most affected; $160-180 is not enough to survive the whole month. • Need an educational program for senior citizens, educating them on their eligibility. • We need to look at SNAP recipients’ net income, not gross income. • Limit needs to be expanded upon retirement. • Food is a basic need. Seniors don't have enough money because they spend it on medication. • People don’t get food stamps because they make just enough, but the amount they make is not enough. Need to expand the threshold for income limit on disability. 27